RESEARCH ARTICLE Surface ozone comparison conducted in two rural areas in central-southern Spain Alberto Notario & Yolanda Díaz-de-Mera & Alfonso Aranda & José Antonio Adame & Alfonso Parra & Eugenio Romero & Jesús Parra & Fernando Muñoz Received: 28 February 2011 /Accepted: 13 June 2011 /Published online: 30 June 2011 # Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract Purpose The purpose of this work is to contribute to the understanding of the photochemical air pollution analysing the levels and temporal variations of surface ozone in two rural areas situated in central-southern Spain. Method The study is based on ozone hourly data recorded during the overall period between January 2008 and Novem- ber 2009. The seasonal and daily ozone cycles as well as the number of exceedances of the threshold established in the European Ozone Directive have been calculated and analysed. Results This study presents the first ozone data registered at these two rural sites in the Iberian Peninsula plateau. Ozone shows a clear seasonal variation with the lowest values in January and November. High ozone concentrations are interrelated with high radiation intensities, temperature and wind directions. The information threshold defined in the European Ozone Directives was exceeded six times, while the limit for protection of human health was exceeded more than 40 times. The limits to protect the vegetation were also exceeded. Conclusions Porzuna (near Cabañeros National Park) presents higher ozone levels than Argamasilla during the night-time and during the daytime of the summer months. Ozone levels are lower in Argamasilla probably due to fresh emissions from the close industrial area of Puertollano. The ozone exceedances of the limits defined in the Ozone Directive point out an ozone problem in this rural region. Keywords Air quality . Ozone . Pollution . Cabañeros National Park . Puertollano . Porzuna . Argamasilla de Calatrava 1 Introduction Elevated concentrations of smog pollutants such as ozone, PAN, etc., have been shown to be harmful to human health (Zelm et al. 2008) and vegetation (e.g. Fishman et al. 2010). Precursors of these smog pollutants are volatile organic compounds, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitro- gen oxides (NOx). The oxidation of VOCs in the troposphere is initiated mainly by reactions with the OH radical during the daytime and NO 3 radicals at night (Finlayson-Pitts and Pitts Responsible editor: Euripides Stephanou A. Notario Departamento de Química Física, Instituto de Tecnologías Química y Medioambiental (ITQUIMA), Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Avenida Camilo Jose Cela s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain Y. Díaz-de-Mera (*) : A. Aranda Departamento de Química Física, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Avenida Camilo Jose Cela s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain e-mail: yolanda.diaz@uclm.es J. A. Adame Atmospheric Sounding Station El Arenosillo. Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA), Atmospheric Research and Instrumentation Branch, Huelva, Spain A. Parra : E. Romero IES Ribera del Bullaque, Porzuna, Ciudad Real, Spain J. Parra : F. Muñoz IES Alonso Quijano, Argamasilla de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Spain Environ Sci Pollut Res (2012) 19:186–200 DOI 10.1007/s11356-011-0551-z